Years Away
by Athos
Summary: A 'Spirit of Wonder' fanfiction, placed afterwards the events of 'Petite Melancholy'.


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Disclaimer:

** 'Spirit of Wonder' and the short story 'Petite Melancholy' belong to Kenji Tsuruta. I am not obtaining any benefits with this story. _

  
**Years Away**

  
_'...as time goes by.' _

Northwood hadn't changed too much. The homeland of Lindon's family had been, and still was, a small city in the middle of the country. Quiet and gentle, it was a city that Marie liked. 

She did not live anymore at Lindon Manor, in the outsides. While it was the nicest of the homes and a place to return, the old house where she had spent her childhood didn't make her feel as content as her small apartment in the village did. There, alone with her thoughts, Marie was happy, with the particular happiness that a quiet solitude brings to a certain kind of people. 

It was just a matter of points of view. Almost everybody dream in a more or less regular basis. Many people, besides, remember their dreams and enjoys them as a little breakdown from the daily routine; it's nice to wake up and remember and feel, at least for a brief period -the first and dizzy minutes in the morning- what means to be free for flying, or diving, or kissing the loved woman, if she's not lying next to us. 

Marie Lindon was not the exception to the rule, as she always dreamt. All the nights, and all the night, Marie travelled to a heaven where strange and beautiful flowers grew freely. That wasn't too much strange; many people did that as well. Marie, though, awoke sometimes with the flower in her hand. 

Her favorite place in the city was the dusty ruins of the Rainbow Laboratory. Once the place where her grandfather had worked, the proud building was now a bunch of rocks where the children played and the birds made their nests, singing happily at the arrival of the morning. That evening, she was sitting down in one stone, polished by both the passage of time and the hand of man. Not knowing exactly why, she'd felt like visiting it when the sun had begun to get a red dry. 

And Marie stared at the square, remembering how many times she had come with Wilhem, the young assistant of the professor at that building when it was still the proud house of his grandfather. That is, when her fragile health let her, which wasn't too much frequently. Only from time to time, Wilhem would carry her outside the manor. Sometimes -or so it seemed- when the night came, to see the strange things that his grandfather kept inside; Marie never knew if she had dreamt that or not. Her parents always said that she daydreamed too much, but the young, gentle, shy Wilhem never had replied to that. 

A rather strange dream had been the one that she'd got just before Wilhem disappeared, where she had traveled in time to meet herself, her grandfather and Wilhem, and a certain fair haired woman that she now met all the days when she looked at the mirror. 

A déjà-vu? Perhaps. Perhaps it had been as well a dream the day she had met him, or so it seemed now, two years away. Wilhem... 

The wind began to blow gently, making a few tufts of hair to fleece in front of her eyes. 

She looked down. Alice, the talking doll that the young technician had made for a small, ill Marie so much time ago was between her hands. It was again broken. 

Wilhem. If only he'd have given her a kiss when he had left to save her... 

He had left both Maries alone -the child and the woman- in his effort for saving them both. And Marie, a healthy and full of life Marie, was still alone. 

She got up. It was cold, and soon it would be dark. Marie sighed, not knowing exactly what'd carried her there precisely that day. She turned to leave; a soft 'pop' resounded then behind her back, and Marie stiffened. Again, that sound, the sound she'd heard whenever any of his grandfather's machines worked. 

She turned away slowly, containing her breath. 

And there he was, Wilhem, smiling apologetically like he always did. Wilhem, with his round glasses and the hair falling over his eyes. 

She smiled and breathed deeply. 

"Hi, Marie," Wilhem said softly, approaching her. 

"Hi," muttered Marie, strangely quiet. 

"I'm back." 

"Are you going to..." she asked, blushing and grabbing his hand slowly. 

"Stay?" he added hesitant. "I... am not sure. I only wanted to see you... again, as you are. But... I don't know if..." 

"Wilhem?" she smiled sweetly. 

"Yes?" 

"Let's go gome. It's late."

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Author's Notes 

Perhaps the first 'Spirit of Wonder' fanfiction out there, Years Away is just a small little thing I wrote during a few free days. If you hadn't read 'Spirit of Wonder' before, of course you'll be absolutely lost, not knowning the characters. I only can recommend you the book. Honestly, it's a hidden jewel. 

See you! 

**Athos **


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